Inherently self-managed networks: Requirements, properties and an initial model

The complexity and dynamicity of networks continue to increase. Furthermore, specialization of network operations, the de-regulation of vertically integrated network operators, new demands from end users, as well as new business models for Over-The-Top players, give rise to new challenges and emphasizes that networking becomes ever more dynamic and organic in nature. To address these trends the research community has been investigating how to integrate management capabilities into the networks in order to meet the foremost requirements on reduced OPEX, but also to enable faster responses to agile business operations for the support of new value chains, applications, and services. These management capabilities are however envisaged as an add-on to the existing functionality. This would impose scalability, performance, and extensibility issues when such capabilities are deployed incrementally and ad-hoc. In this paper, we give an overview of selected recent advances in network architectures supporting self-management capabilities, and identify both their strengths and their limitations. This analysis provides input for a definition of the requirements and core properties for networks to become inherently self-managed. We then outline a generic model termed the “Netcell” that seeks to support the identified requirements and core properties.